El descobert és greu.

to be

Breakdown of El descobert és greu.

• el descobert: the bank overdraft
• greu: serious; severe

Questions & Answers about El descobert és greu.

Why is there el before descobert?

Because el descobert is being used as a noun phrase, not just as a bare adjective or participle.

In Catalan, it is very common to use el + adjective/past participle to mean the ... thing / the ... situation / the ... concept. So here el helps turn descobert into something noun-like.

So structurally:

• el descobert = the noun phrase
• és greu = is serious

In many contexts, el descobert is a fixed expression, so the article is part of how the phrase is normally said.

Is descobert a noun or an adjective here?

Here, it functions as a noun.

On its own, descobert is originally the past participle of descobrir. But in this sentence it is being used substantively, meaning it behaves like a noun.

That is why the sentence works like:

• El descobert = subject
• és = verb
• greu = adjective describing the subject

So even if the word historically comes from a participle, in this sentence you should treat el descobert as a noun phrase.

Why is the verb és used instead of està?